MANILA, Philippines -- At Sunday’s Game 1 in the best-of-three UAAP collegiate finals series, the Ateneo Blue Eagles drew first blood over rival La Salle Green Archers. In an article by Marlon Ramos, five suspected scalpers were caught allegedly selling tickets for P1,500--20 times the ticket’s face value of P75. Still, in another report by Jasmine Payo, two patron tickets, originally priced at P350, were sold at P25,000.
As a paradox, the blockbuster game showcased talents for game play that every fan would want to witness and be part of. Likewise, this paves way for opportunists to get into the business of selling overpriced tickets. It could be a simple case of symbiosis, or the law of supply and demand: die-hard fans buy overpriced tickets from scalpers to watch the game at the court and rally for their teams. Building up team spirit? For scalpers, this is an opportunity to sell overprized tickets to fans before the fight begins.
Genius or madness?
A blog written by DLSU graduate Paul Garilao cited a LaSallian October 2002 article on scalpers. Mang Jimmy, a scalper for over eight years, travels from Cavite to DLSU to get spare tickets from professors and students. The tickets he sold during the 2002 game have a scalped price below:
According to the blog, the scalper earned as much as P20,000 (in 2002) from scalping when game favorites such as Ateneo and La Salle play in the court. It is reasonable to add up some more figures to that if its finals seasons.
The scalping market continues to exist alongside each game. Each ballgame has two faces: a celebration of each team’s finest and an opportunity to earn big. Scalpers, in essence, will never run out of business as long as there will be people who can pay the price for their desired game tickets. Is this genius or madness? Who’s the winner and who’s the loser? You answer.
According to the blog, the scalper earned as much as P20,000 (in 2002) from scalping when game favorites such as Ateneo and La Salle play in the court. It is reasonable to add up some more figures to that if its finals seasons.
The scalping market continues to exist alongside each game. Each ballgame has two faces: a celebration of each team’s finest and an opportunity to earn big. Scalpers, in essence, will never run out of business as long as there will be people who can pay the price for their desired game tickets. Is this genius or madness? Who’s the winner and who’s the loser? You answer.
